Construction of an exterior stairway at MedImmune is on hold for now.
Gaithersburg’s Planning and Code Administration Director Greg Ossont said the work was halted on July 20 because the current design is now different than what was approved back in 2008 by the Gaithersburg Planning Commission.
“The original approved staircase was straight but they wanted to jog it with right angles to discourage skateboarders so that requires a minor amendment,” said Ossont. “The contractor just went ahead and did the angles so [staff] stopped them and had them come in and get an amendent.”
Ossont said the design changes detailed in the minor site plan amendment require staff approval and the application will not be forwarded to the city’s Planning Commission for review.
“If we don’t approve it they have to rip it out, but that probably won’t be the case as this is a better design than the original – safer too,” he said.
Liz Huntley, MedImmune’s senior manager for community affairs, said the stairs are being added to the campus for the convenience of the company’s employees.
“There is a bus stop located at the base of the stairs and we have many employees who utilize public transportation,” said Huntley. “The stairs will provide a safe and convenient path for these employees to get from the campus to street-level and vice versa.”
According to Ossont, staff did not discover the changes earlier because inspections had not been performed at the site. He said this is not unusual.
“Very common for contractors, especially on large projects, to just roll out and make subtle changes in the field without notifying anyone,” he said. “It does get to be very frustrating for the inspections staff when there are 10 or 20 subcontractors on a job and they’re doing things they shouldn’t be doing.”
As part of the minor amendment to final plan, MedImmune is required to notify adjacent property owners of the proposed changes. In this case, notification letters were sent to Saul Holdings (owner of Kentlands commercial buildings), Syn-Ridge LLC, Kentlands LLC, and Kentlands Retail. Quince Orchard Park and the State Highway Administration, which Ossont said has a perpetual easement in the area for MedImmune to build the staircase, were not formally notified of the design changes.
Just last month, the city issued a stop work order for some work on the rooftop of another MedImmune building in Quince Orchard Park after questions were raised by The Town Courier about elevation changes. Turns out that rooftop work did not have proper zoning approval either and MedImmune was asked to file a minor site plan amendment as well. City staff approved those changes within a week.
It is common for Gaithersburg inspectors not to inspect the largest project in the city? What are they doing, inspecting all the other projects? Oh, wait, there aren’t any.
Gaithersurg Inspections, that term is any oxymoron. My observation is that folks in this city get away with anything they to.
The Town Courier should get part of the permit fees that pay the inspectors no to inspect.